Sheffield Wednesday lost against Cardiff City today. But one player shone for the Owls.
Sheffield Wednesday will feel very unlucky to have not taken all three points from today’s game, let alone one point.
Danny Rohl saw his side take an early lead through Anthony Musaba, with the Dutchman scoring his fourth Championship goal of the campaign.
But Cardiff City scored twice in the second half, and very much against the run of play, with both goals definitely avoidable as well.
The defeat leaves the Owls in 23rd and six points adrift after both QPR and Huddersfield Town lost.
Despite the frustrating result though, Marvin Johnson was a standout performer.
Marvin Johnson starts at left-back vs Cardiff City
Johnson, 33, has been in and out of the XI under Rohl.
But he started at left-back today with Akin Famewo moving into the middle, and with Johnson taking a more familiar full-back position but still getting forward on plenty of occasions.
And he had a good game. As per Sofascore, Johnson made more interceptions than any of his teammates (4), whilst also recording two tackles and 29 accurate passes, winning eight out of his 12 duels.
Johnson was also on hand to provide a killer pass for Musaba to then score the opener.
The Star rated Johnson’s performance an 8/10, with journalist Alex Miller adding:
“His best performance since arriving back in the side by some distance, you’d think. Laid on some quality balls down the line, picking up an assist for Musaba’s bit of lovely, and caused a threat throughout.”
A new outlet for Danny Rohl?
Famewo has been playing at left-back this season.
And he’s proved to be a good player in that position, albeit an unfamiliar position for him, and so Rohl’s decision to move Famewo into the middle and drop Di’Shon Bernard was met with surprise on social media.
But Johnson did well today.
He gave Rohl a new outlet on the left; Famewo, whilst more of a defensive-minded player, can go past opposition players with the ball, but Johnson has the ability to play those cutting passes.
He showed that for Musaba’s opener and he showed his ability to go forward with the ball and create goal-scoring chances.
It’ll be interesting to see if Rohl opts to deploy Johnson at left-back against Coventry City on Boxing Day.
Being away from home, Rohl might opt for the more defensively-sound Famewo at left-back, or he might want to attack Coventry with Johnson, so this selection decision will be one to look out for.
Kick off is at 3pm.